


It's A Start

by EbilMe666



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batjokes, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 02:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EbilMe666/pseuds/EbilMe666
Summary: “You know you only have to ask,” Joker said, his voice maybe a little too sweet. Bruce turned to face him and wasn’t surprised by the smirk plastered on his face.“What are you talking about?” Bruce asked.“You want to kiss me, I can tell,” Joker said and Bruce found himself rolling his eyes as Joker leaned into him. “You only ever have to ask.”





	It's A Start

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm in the midst of writer's block but my sleep deprived brain suddenly got the idea to start writing about how Bruce might have first realised he had feelings for Joker. It kind of got away from me after the first three paragraphs though and is only my second attempt at writing Batjokes, despite it being one of my two OTPs... The title will probably change in the future and I know it's not the best written thing in the world but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

Falling in love with the Joker should have been impossible. At the very least, it should have been hard, but Bruce found it so, so easy. He supposed that it was inevitable, really. All the time he spent chasing after the clown and watching his every move, Bruce was really just surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. Although, maybe it had, maybe it had happened the first time they met and he just hadn’t realised it.

It was when he was standing on a roof, firmly holding Joker by the shoulder after yet another fight that he noticed just how deep his feelings for the man were. It wasn’t love, not quite, but it was closer than Bruce was comfortable with. He looked at the criminal, really looked, and took in the smudged makeup and dishevelled green hair and roughed up purple suit, splattered in blood that Bruce knew belonged to one of them but couldn’t be sure as to which. Joker was really beautiful after a fight, he found himself thinking, when he was a little worse for wear and had just a glint of madness in his eyes.

It was when he looked into those deep emerald eyes that he realised he was lost. He’d never seen eyes quite so vibrant and bright. He knew at that moment, that there was more to the Joker than the mischief, crime and insanity he showed and he knew that there probably wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to find out what.

Joker, for his part, just let Bruce stare at him, in a silence that was unusual for the clown. Bruce longed to know what was going through his head in that moment but didn’t dare use his voice to ask. The mutual silence was calm and peaceful and Bruce would have been content to just stand on that rooftop forever, but he knew he had to break it. He had to stop whatever it was that was going on between himself and the villain and take Joker to Arkham. He looked away, his hand still on Joker’s shoulder, and stared out at the city of Gotham.

His life would have been so much easier if Joker had never showed up in it but, despite the violence and body count, he was glad that Joker was there and that scared him. He knew that he should hate the Joker, that he should want him out of his life forever but he didn’t. In truth, he wasn’t sure who Batman would be without the Joker anymore.

“Bats?” Joker asked finally, breaking the silence, and his voice almost seemed concerned. Bruce felt his grip on the man tighten as he was pulled out of his thoughts.

“What?” Bruce asked back without turning to face Joker. The sun’s amber glow was just starting to appear on the horizon, covering the city with a dim orange light.

“You know you only have to ask,” Joker said, his voice maybe a little too sweet. Bruce turned to face him and wasn’t surprised by the smirk plastered on his face.

“What are you talking about?” Bruce asked.

“You want to kiss me, I can tell,” Joker said and Bruce found himself rolling his eyes as Joker leaned into him. “You only ever have to ask.”

Joker placed a hand on the bat symbol on Bruce’s chest and the hero had to stop himself from leaning into the touch. It took him maybe a moment too long to pull away from Joker and he knew the clown would read into that. He sighed deeply, and closed his eyes for a moment before looking at Joker again.

Joker had never made it a secret that he was obsessed with Batman and Bruce knew that he was on dangerous ground, yet there was a small impulsive voice in his head telling him to just kiss the grin off of the clown’s face already. He found himself looking at Joker’s painted lips for a moment too long before he looked away again. He really needed to get ahold of himself.

Joker made a frustrated noise from his side and Bruce looked back at him, his grip on his shoulder loosening. It was that moment that Joker decided he was going to pounce.

Before Bruce really knew what was happening, red lips, slick with greasepaint, were on his own. He could push Joker away and they both knew it but he didn’t. Joker pulled away after a moment and took a step back.

“You know Bats, it’d be more fun if you kissed back,” he said with a disappointed sigh. Joker began to turn away from Bruce.

He didn’t know what came over him but he had the overwhelming urge to stop the Joker, so he did. He stepped forwards quickly, a hand outstretched that reached behind Joker’s head and buried itself in his hair, pulling Joker’s face towards Bruce’s own. He closed his eyes when he kissed the villain and felt Joker smile against him as he kissed back.

Joker tasted like candy, which was something that Bruce really shouldn’t have been surprised by. Their tongues fought for dominance, neither wanting to give in, and it was only when Joker bit Bruce hard enough to draw blood, adding a metallic taste to the mix that Bruce pulled away. He glared at Joker and realised that he should have expected him to do something like that as the other man pouted at him.

“Come on, you can’t have expected me to be gentle,” Joker said and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“I know that,” he said, “I could have expected you not to draw blood though.”

“Well I wouldn’t have had to if you’d just let me have control.”

Bruce looked at Joker with affection in his eyes and realised that having this argument was pointless. He chuckled softly to himself as Joker glared at him.

“What’s so funny?” Joker asked

“You,” Bruce replied fondly, because, maybe this was what it had all been leading up to. All the fights and stabs and punches. All of Joker’s insane plans and schemes that Bruce always managed to foil. Maybe all those years of fighting, of Joker trying to kill him and Bruce trying to put Joker in Arkham, were all leading up to them kissing at sunrise on a rooftop in Gotham.

He wouldn’t call whatever he felt for the clown love. Love would require complete trust which neither of them had in each other, not yet anyway. Whatever it was that the pair of them did have was little more than a start, but it was a start nonetheless and Bruce was determined to find out where it went.


End file.
